Sports flash

The latest from tennis, women's handball and football

Florin Orban, 03.03.2022, 13:45

Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday advanced to the
quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Lyon, an event with 193 thousand Euros
up for grabs. In the tournament’s round of 16, Cirstea defeated Switzerland’s Stefanie Vögele, 6-3, 7-5. On her way to the semi-finals, on Friday Cirstea will face Hungary’s Anna
Bondar. We recall Cirstea faced Bondar only once, in Budapest, in 2019, in the
first round, when the Romanian defeated her opponent, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. According
to the WTA rankings made public earlier this week, Cirstea is 31st-placed.
Should Sorana reach the final in Lyon, she is sure to outclass Simona Halep,
who is 21st-placed according to the same rankings. Sorana Cirstea
could thus become the best-placed Romanian tennis player according to the WTA
rankings.

In news from men’s tennis, this coming Friday and
Saturday, in Spain’s Marbella, Romania’s team goes against Spain, in a Davis
Cup playoff match counting towards the competition’s final tournament. For the
match against Spain, to be played on a clay court, Romania-s non-playing
captain, Gabriel Trifu, has summoned a team made of Marius Copil, Nicolae
Frunză, Ştefan Paloşi, Gabi Adrian Boitan and Horia Tecău.

In a fixture counting towards the European Championship’s
preliminaries, Romania’s national women’s handball team in Mioveni this past Wednesday
sustained a 28-35 defeat by Denmark, the bronze medalist team at the World championships
in December 2021. After a one-year gap, or
thereabouts, Romania’s best handball player of the moment, Cristina Neagu, was
on the pitch but was unable to make the difference to the national team’s
advantage. According to the second preliminary group rankings, Denmark is at
the top of the table, with 6 points, followed by Romania, with 3. Austria is 3rd-placed,
with 1 point, while bottom-of-the-table Feroe Islands team has zero points on
its record sheet. The first two teams secure their ticket to the final tournament.
Romania’s return leg against Denmark is scheduled in Odense this coming Saturday.

Matches counting towards the last-but-one round, the 29th, of
the regular football season have been played this week. On Tuesday, in Ploiesti,
in the south, Chindia Târgoviște defeated
UTA Arad, 1-nil. Also on Tuesday, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe grabbed a 3-1 away win
against Dinamo Bucharest, while F C U Craiova secured a 3-2 home win against Rapid
Bucharest.

On Wednesday in Bucharest, Academica Clinceni defeated
Gaz Metan Mediaș, 2-nil, while in Mioveni, also in the south, Universitatea Craiova
secured a 3-nil away win against CS Mioveni. Also on
Wednesday, CFR Cluj grabbed a 1-nil away win against FC Voluntari. On Thursday,
Farul Constanta take on FC Botosani, while FC Arges face FCSB.

CFR Cluj is at the top of the as-it-stands table, with 73 points. FCSB is
the runner-up team, with 59.

(EN)

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